


Talking with Their Hands

by PattRose



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 21:24:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6582979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/pseuds/PattRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blair knows that Jim can use sign language, but he witnesses him using it with a young victim.  Will Jim try to help this 12 year old foster child or let him go back into the system?</p>
<p>Happy Birthday, Jen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talking with Their Hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snycock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snycock/gifts).



Talking with Their Hands  
By PattRose  
Summary: Blair knows that Jim can use sign language, but he witnesses him using it with a young victim. Will Jim try to help this 12 year old foster child or let him go back into the system?  
Warning: Angst, language and happy ending  
Genre: Slash  
Rating: Teen  
Word Count: 3652  
Notes: Happy Birthday, Snycock. I hope you have a very special day. This is for you. Thank you for doing the Sen Chat for all of us and this is my way of thanking you.   
Notes 2: Thank you to Sheila for the beta.

[ ](http://s71.photobucket.com/user/PattRose1/media/their%20hands_edited-1_zpsnvhey7ck.jpg.html)

Blair wanted to surprise Jim this year on his birthday with something he would never guess. When Jim first introduced his family to Blair at a party, Blair saw Jim using sign language. There was something about it that was so darn dreamy and romantic. Jim had beautiful hands and could make them say beautiful things. Rucker’s and Jim’s cousin Sydney was deaf. So they all used sign with her. Not the parents, just the kids. Most people weren’t aware of this at the station because Jim had never come in contact with a deaf suspect. So no one knew how great Jim was with his hands. And Blair didn’t mean that in any way other than talking.

For six months, Blair had been taking classes in signing for Jim’s birthday. His teacher told him he was a natural at it and could keep up with Jim with ease. Blair was so excited. At Jim’s party, Blair was going to sign a song to Jim and hopefully Jim would like it. Blair only had two weeks to prepare for the song presentation. He also wrote a beautiful poem for him and hoped that would go over well too. 

Blair had been working at the station for one year now and loved it. He liked being a paid consultant and now he got to work with everyone, not just Jim. Sometimes that was a nice change of pace.

*

When the call came in to the bullpen, Rafe, Brown, Megan, Joel, Jim and Blair all rolled on it. It had been called in as a kidnapping sting.

When they arrived, Jim and Joel were the first ones to see all of the young boys and girls. There were twenty of them. Ten boys and ten girls. The officer in charge said, “We found them here, chained to the walls. We left them chained, in blankets like this until you could get here and figure out what to do.”

“Marshall, you don’t leave them chained to the fucking wall. Have you called a locksmith to get them loose?” Joel shouted. 

The officer was quick to say, “We called one right away. He’s waiting outside.”

Joel frowned and got angry all over again. “What the fuck is he doing outside? Bring him in so he can let the children loose.”

The officer went and got the locksmith and they all watched as he started getting the children unchained. 

As each child was let go, Jim and everyone else told them who they were and what was happening. The locksmith went to unlock this one boy and the boy next to him said, “Don’t unlock him, he’ll go crazy. He’s deaf or something and he got us all in trouble many, many times.”

Jim hunkered down in front of the boy and started signing, he told the young boy who he was, why he was there and that he wanted to unlock his chains. The boy answered him with his hands and told him he wouldn’t run. So Jim told the locksmith to unlock his chains and let him sit down against the wall. 

They went to each child asking questions about who did this to them and why and Jim went to the deaf child. He showed him his paper and then signed, “I have to ask you some questions. We don’t know why you are here. Do you know? And do you know who took you?”

The boy signed back, “I can draw. I can show you what they looked like. They were going to sell us. I was special because I was deaf. Someone asked for a deaf child. They took me from a foster home. It was a horrible place, but this was worse. They beat us and starved us every day and night. We’re all very hungry.”

Jim wrote all that down and signed, “What is your name? Do you have parents?”

The boy shook his head no and signed, “My name is Nathan Brooks. My parents died four years ago and I have lived in twelve different foster homes since. No one wants a special needs child.”

Jim nodded and wrote it down. Then he signed, “You stick with me, Nathan, and we’ll see that you go somewhere good this time. I promise nothing bad will happen to you.”

Everyone had gotten all their answers from the kids and they were loading them up into ambulances to go to the hospital. Jim went to help Nathan up and found that Nathan could hardly walk. Jim signed, “What happened? Did they do something to your legs?”

Nathan looked very sad as he signed back, “They broke my leg so I couldn’t run anymore. That was almost two weeks ago, I think.”

Jim leaned down and picked the small 12 year old up and carried him out to the ambulance. He told the EMT that Nathan’s leg was broken and had probably begun to heal. They assured Jim that he would be taken care of. Jim got out of the ambulance and Nathan started screaming in a high pitched sound that only a deaf child could possibly make. Jim walked back and signed, “They’re going to take care of you at the hospital.”

Nathan shook his head no and signed, “Please, you promised you would help me. You have to stay with me until I’m better. You promised.”

Jim called out to Joel and said, “I’m going up to the hospital with Nathan. He needs an interpreter. Could you tell Simon?” 

“Sure, Jim. Take good care of him. He seems to have gotten the brunt of the beatings.”

“They all looked pretty rough. Nathan says he can draw a picture of the three men we’re looking for.”

Blair heard this and said, “I’m going to ride with you and Nathan. I can help him with his drawing.”

The EMT said, “There isn’t enough room for all of us. Sandburg, you’re going to have to follow us. You can take it up with Ellison at the hospital.”

“Thanks, Stan. I’ll meet you there,” Blair said as he started off walking quickly to Jim’s truck.

Jim shouted, “Do you need the keys, Chief?”

Blair could hear the snickering as he ran back to get them and took off again. 

All in all they had quite an assortment of children going to the hospital. Jim sat next to Nathan and held his hand. Nathan seemed to need that.

*

It was like a circus at the hospital, but Jim was allowed to go with Nathan since he was able to communicate with him. The doctor came in to check Nathan over and said, “We need to get him down for X-rays and take care of this leg as soon as possible.”

Jim turned to Nathan and signed everything that the doctor had just said. 

Nathan still hung on to Jim as if he were a life-line. Jim didn’t mind at all, in fact he liked the idea of having a child around. He wondered if it was something he and Blair should talk about. _It’s not the time to worry about that now._

When they did the X-ray, Nathan cried because he was afraid it would hurt. Jim felt horrible not being able to help him with that. Once they were back in the room, the doctor came in and said, “He’s going to need surgery. We have a room ready for him now. We just need to draw blood and get him prepped. Needless to say we won’t need your help in surgery, he’s going to be sleeping.”

Jim pulled his hand away from Nathan and started signing. Nathan began to cry. 

He signed to Jim, “I don’t want to go alone.”

Jim signed, “They won’t let me go, Nathan. But I’ll be waiting for you when you get out.”

“Do you promise?” Nathan signed. 

Jim smiled and signed, “Wild horses couldn’t take me away from here, Nathan. Go be a brave boy and I’ll be waiting.”

Nathan pulled Jim down and hugged him close. Jim of course hugged him back, knowing that’s exactly what Nathan needed. 

They rolled the gurney out of the room and Jim smiled at Nathan the entire time. Jim sat down in the chair knowing he had a while to wait.

*

Blair went looking for Jim once they told him where he could be found in the hospital. He walked in and asked, “So how is Nathan?”

“Hi Chief. You are a sight for sore eyes. It’s been two hours already and they haven’t brought him back yet. He was so scared and he wanted me to go with him. It took everything within me to not go. Well, that and the fact that the doctor said, stay here.” 

“Can I have a kiss, or do you consider this on duty?”

“Shut up and come here,” Jim said sweetly. 

Blair walked over and into Jim’s arms. They kissed until Jim pulled away. “They’re bringing Nathan back.”

“I’m so glad that that’s over with,” Blair said. 

The doctor walked in along with the nurses pushing the gurney. “Good to see you still here. He’s going to need someone that can help him through recovery. Maybe you could suggest someone from the college or something. I know you can’t take off work to take care of someone else’s child.”

“I’ll be here for a while. I’ll call my captain and explain why and we’ll go from there. How did the surgery go?”

“He’s going to be in his walking cast for about six weeks. His staples will come out in two weeks. I know it sounds strange to have his leg open like that instead of in a plaster cast, but this is the best option for a speedy recovery. He’ll have to use crutches for about two to three weeks. Then he can start walking with a walker or even on his own. It’s going to take some time.”

Jim looked over Nathan’s leg and frowned. “There seem to be a lot of staples in this little leg.”

Doctor Morgan smiled and said, “It’s always a shock the first time you see it. There was a lot of damage to the leg, so we had to open it up from his ankle to his knee. He’s going to be very sore.”

“Excuse me a moment while I call my boss and see if I can take time off,” Jim said as he walked out into the hallway, dialing his phone as he walked. 

“Banks…”

“Simon, I need some family time off. I have a lot of time coming, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Nathan is going to need us for about six weeks at least.”

“Jim, I don’t want to rain on your parade or anything, but after six weeks, he’s not going to want to go to a new foster home. He’ll be used to you and Blair by then. You need to think about him for a change.”

Jim was trying to stay calm and not yell in the hallway. “I am thinking about him. He needs special care and he’s not going to get that elsewhere.”

“You want two months off? Sandburg will still have to work.”

“That’s fine. I’m going to talk to foster care today and see what they think of him coming to my place for a while.”

“Jim, think long and hard on it. I think the person that is going to have the hardest time will be Nathan. He’s got to leave you and what if he goes to a home that no one does sign language?”

“I’m going to see if Blair will consider fostering Nathan with me. We could put in for children with hearing problems. No one wants them, Simon. But we do.”

“Good luck, Jim. I hope it works out for you. And I hope that Blair will agree to it, since you’re so dead-set on it.”

“See you in two months, Simon. Thank you,” Jim replied and closed his cell. 

He walked into the room and Nathan was awake and Blair was signing to him. Jim was so shocked and surprised, he couldn’t believe that Blair had learned sign. 

Jim walked up to the bed and touched Blair’s back. Blair jumped and said, “Dang it, I wanted to save it for your birthday surprise.”

“It works as a great surprise on any day.” Jim’s smile said everything Blair needed to see or hear. 

Blair signed, “Nathan wants to know if we’ll visit him at his new foster home.”

Jim signed to Nathan, “I have to speak with Blair for a moment.” Jim decided to take Blair in the hallway because he didn’t know what Blair’s reaction might be. He sure didn’t want Nathan to see a bad one. 

Blair looked puzzled but followed Jim out into the hallway. “What’s up, Jim?”

“How would you feel about being a foster parent to deaf children? Starting with Nathan of course.”

“I’ll talk to the case worker that’s here and find out how quickly we can do this. It’s a perfect idea, Jim.”

“So that’s a yes?” Jim said smiling, big time.

“It’s a yes. I like him very much and now since we both talk with our hands, it’s going to be easier for him. There is a wonderful deaf school for elementary and high school not far from the loft. We could put him in there, where he would feel more accepted and normal.”

“Leave it to you to think of everything. I love you, Blair Sandburg.”

Blair smiled and signed, “I love you too, Jim Ellison.”

Jim pulled Blair in for a huge hug and then said, “We need to tell him we’re gay. He might not like that idea at all.”

“I’ll explain it all. Leave that to me. I’m going down to see the case worker right now and see how we can proceed,” Blair said, already walking away, acting like he was on a mission. 

Jim went back in the room and Nathan looked scared and upset. 

Jim signed, “What’s wrong, Nathan.”

Nathan answered, “I thought you might be fighting about me.”

“Quite the opposite, Nathan. Blair is downstairs seeing your case worker about us becoming foster parents for you. Would you agree to that?”

Jim never saw anyone’s hands move so fast in his life. “I would love that. You and Blair are awesome.”

Jim continued to sign, “But I need you to understand that Blair and I are a couple. We’re gay, Nathan.”

Nathan smiled and answered quickly, signing, “I could tell. That doesn’t bother me. It would be nice to live with someone that can talk to me and understand me. At all of the foster homes I’ve had, they make me write everything down and at school too.”

“Blair said that there is a school for the deaf not too far from where we live, so we’ll check into that. It would be a much better environment for you.”

Nathan yawned and laid back on the pillow. He was asleep when Blair came walking back in. 

Blair asked, “Is he doing all right?”

“Yeah, just needs to know if he gets to come home with us or not.”

Blair smiled and said, “Well, the case worker is bringing the emergency foster care papers up for us today. She said they have no one in the system that knows sign language or that would be willing to put him in the school for the deaf. She thinks they can fast-track it, especially with our backgrounds and he can go home with us right away.”

“This is fantastic news, Blair. Thank you for taking care of that for us,” Jim answered. 

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Nathan needs to be wakened to draw that picture he talked about. We need to find these men as soon as possible, or they will just start up shop somewhere else with new kids,” Blair pointed out. 

Jim went up to the bed and tapped Nathan softly and when he woke up, Jim signed, “We need you to draw the pictures of the men while they are still fresh in your mind.”

“Do you have paper and a pencil?” Nathan asked, with his hands. 

Blair signed, “I’ll be right back with both.”

As soon as Blair came in, Nathan sat up in bed, they brought the tray table in front of him and gave him the paper and pencil. He immediately began to draw. Jim and Blair watched with amazement at how good Nathan was. Both men could see the faces coming to life in record time. He drew all three of them together and then drew one on each page with different looks. The one with all three was by far the best of the bunch. Nathan had a talent that was awesome. 

Jim signed, “Do you know their names?”

Nathan signed, “They never told us their names, but I read their lips and could see what their names were.” Under each of the single pictures he wrote a first name. The first evil man was named Joe, the next, Tony and the last one was Dan. 

Blair signed, “Thank you so much, Nathan. We’ll get these right down to the station and get them found as soon as possible. In fact, I’ll be back in just a few minutes. I’m going to fax everything to Captain Banks right now. That way I’ll be here if you need me.” Blair walked out of the room and Nathan smiled. 

Jim could tell that Nathan liked both of them, so he felt it might work out. 

“Do you have a house, Jim?” Nathan asked with his hands. 

“We will soon. As soon as we find out if they’ll let us take you to our home, we’ll look for a new house.”

Nathan smiled and laid back onto his pillow again and went to sleep. Jim brushed his hair out of his eyes as Blair walked into the room. 

“Sleeping again, I see. I think you’re boring him to death,” Blair teased. 

“I told him that we’re trying to foster him and if we do, we’re going to look for a house.”

“Jim, that’s not necessary, quite yet. Let’s let him get well first and then he can look at houses with us.”

“That’s a good idea, Chief. Do you think the office will be good enough to keep him happy?”

“I think he’s going to be so happy that he would sleep in a closet. This may just work out, don’t you agree?”

Before Jim could answer, a woman walked in carrying tons of paperwork. “Good day, gentlemen. I’m Susan Gannon and I have lots and lots of papers for you to sign. Our department talked to the case worker and the doctor and he said Nathan will be going home in three days, so you’ll be fast-tracked into the foster care system. We already got a letter from the Commissioner, Captain Simon Banks and Captain Joel Taggert. As soon as you fill these out, we can get them filed and you’ll be done. We need to see Nathan’s room and that type of thing of course. Do you have an apartment or a house?”

“Susan, we have a condo and we’re waiting until he’s better to look for a home. We want him involved with the decision. Right now, it’s a small bedroom, but comfortable and we have plenty of room for the three of us,” Blair answered. 

“We’ll need to see the condo tomorrow. Which one of you will show it to me?” Susan asked. 

“I’ll do it. Both of us know sign language so he’s comfortable staying with either of us,” Jim replied. 

“Good. Fill out all the paperwork and I’ll pick it up this afternoon. Better get busy for inspection.” She laughed all the way out of the room.

*

Jim took off that night and got a new bed for the office. He took the futon out and replaced it with a twin bed with a trundle underneath, just in case Nathan had a friend over. He put new, washed sheets on the beds, put the new dresser in there and the small desk. Jim also put up some super hero things on the walls until he found out what Nathan was interested in. Everything was set to go for the following day. Now he needed to get back up to the hospital with dinner. He had promised to pick up Wonderburger and Blair didn’t even complain when Nathan got excited about it.

Jim picked up hamburgers for each of them, but he also got salads and a shake for dessert. When he came walking into the room, both of them were moving their hands like crazy and Jim knew that he was in for a house filled with much joy. They both saw Jim at the same moment and lit up like candles. They greeted him with their hands. Jim couldn’t answer them because his hands were full. He set everything down and signed, “Shall we eat?”

And they did just that. All three knew nothing was etched in stone yet, but they were willing to give it a good try. 

The end 

(There might be more to come. I just wanted to finish this in time for snycock’s birthday.)


End file.
